Charles Baudelaire famously wrote, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” (The Generous Gambler)
If that’s true, then the second greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that other people are demonized.
Which is a good strategy, to be honest. If, as the devil, you encounter someone who insists on believing that you exist, you might as well convince them that you exist within someone else. Evil is always within the other, never within ourselves. This is quite on brand with the devil, satan in Hebrew: “the Accuser.”
How quick we are to accuse others. To assume the worst about them. To point the finger at them. And, if we’re particularly religious, to suspect that they might actually be demonized.
The pious religious elite also accused Jesus of being demonized. But they were so very wrong. Which I only point out to say that we, too, can be wrong.
Perhaps if we spent less energy accusing others of being demonized, we might actually see the goodness of God within them, and then also have some energy left over to deal with our own demons.
